Memories
by Le Luverly Zero
Summary: xxxHolic/Doctor Who crossover. A young foreigner comes to the shop for something other than Yuuko. Watanuki briefly wonders if he too, would pay the price that she has for her wish.


Disclaimer: I do not own xxxHolic or Doctor Who. If I owned Doctor Who…instead of a new series they would be remaking episodes of the Second Doctor and Jamie. Wouldn't change a thing about xxxHolic though :3

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When Watanuki comes to work that day he knows something will happen. It's the dress Yuuko is wearing, the one she always does when there is something important about to happen. He almost knew before seeing her though, she was standing in the place where Syaoran and the others had first appeared. But he could feel it in the air before she caught his eye.

There was a solemn feeling in the air. Yuuko was sober. Any normal day the boy would be jumping for joy that he didn't have to cater to his lush of a boss' needs that day, but not today. He went and set his school bag inside the store before rejoining her in the yard.

"Yuuko-san...?"

"Quiet, quiet." Maru and Moro chanted together. The each ran to one of his sides and latched themselves onto an arm. They pulled the teen a bit farther away from the time witch before the two spoke again.

"We're waiting!"

"Waiting!"

He felt something drop on his head before black clouded his vision. The small creature known as Mokona Modoki scrambled down to sit on his shoulder. Glancing sideways through his glasses, the dark haired boy could see furrowed brows on the usually cheerful puff ball.

The urge to ask what was going on bubbled up inside of him until it felt like something was stuck in his throat. He didn't get the chance to ask though, because as he opened his mouth Yuuko turned to face the entrance of the shop. Standing just this side of the gate was a young woman.

She was definitely a foreigner, not as tall as himself but taller than the average Japanese woman. Her hair gently brushed her shoulders and was a golden color. Brown eyes sat on a face covered in too much make up. She bit her lip while shuffling back and forth on her feet before Yuuko acknowledged her.

"I've been waiting for you, Rose Tyler."

"What? How do you know my name?" She had an English accent and her Japanese was horribly choppy.

"It's inevitable that you would come here."

"What is this place?" The blonde took a few more steps inside. Behind her he could see a group of people gazing confused at the gate. All were foreigners like the girl; a dark skinned young man, a middle aged blonde woman and a tall bald man.

He had always been able to see the shop but he knew from what Doumeki had told him what they must be seeing now. An empty plot of land sandwiched between numbers of high-rise buildings.

"This is a shop where people get their wishes granted. But I can't grant your wish, that's not why you're here."

The skeptical look left Rose's face as she glanced behind Yuuko. She stared intently at that spot as if she had heard something. She walked closer till she stood next to Yuuko. A sound like a violent wind filled Watanuki's ears and before his eyes a man appeared.

He was transparent like a spirit but Watanuki didn't get that tingling sensation he got from the supernatural. The man was tall and lanky, wearing a brown suit with tennis shoes. Immediately a feeling of despair filled him and he found himself unconsciously gripping the hands of Maru and Moro tight as can be.

"Where are you?" The English woman spoke and suddenly he could understand her clear as a whistle.

"Inside the Tardis. There's one tiny gap in the universe left, just about to close. And it takes a lot of power to send this projection; I'm in orbit around a super nova. I'm burning up a sun just to say good bye."

"You look like a ghost."

"Hold on," The man brought something out of his pocket and adjusted it before pointing it at seemingly nothing. It took mere seconds for his image to solidify. She walked closer to him and reached a hand towards his face as she spoke.

"Can I tou…"

"I'm still just an image," The man cut her off. "No touching."

"Can't you come for me properly?"

"The whole thing would fracture. Two universes would collapse."

"So?" He smiled a little at her answer. There was a small silence and he used to opportunity to look around.

"Ah so this is where the gap came out. I had a feeling." The man turned to Yuuko and gave her a small nod. "Witch," the word was said as a greeting.

"Doctor," Watanuki's boss gave a small bow in return.

"You know each other?" Rose chimed in.

"It's not important. We only have about two minutes."

A sob wracked through to girl's body and she covered her mouth. She turned her head as if to compose herself before looking back at the man, the Doctor as Yuuko had called him.

"I don't even know what to say." Her voice was bordering on hysterical.

"You've still got Mr. Mickey then." The Doctors long arm gestured to the people outside of the gate.

"Oh there's five of us now; Mom, dad, Mickey, me and the baby."

"You're not?"

"No," she laughed. "Its Mom, three months gone, more Tyler's on the way."

Watanuki thought the man looked almost relieved.

"And what about you, what are you…"

"Yeah I'm back working in the shop."

"Good for you."

"Shut up! No I'm not. The torchwood on this planet is open for business. I think I know a thing or two about aliens."

"Rose Tyler, Defender of the Earth." He had a smile on his face but hers was twisted into an expression of sadness.

"You're dead officially, back home. So many people died that day and you've gone missing. You're on the list of the dead."

Rose buried her face in her hands again, but he continued.

"Here you are, living a life day after day. The one adventure I can never have."

A pained sound left the woman, something on a level Watanuki wasn't sure he'd ever heard before and his heart clenched as it hit his ears.

"Am I ever going to see you again?" Her voice was full of tears and Watanuki knew that she would start crying at any moment.

The Doctor glanced quickly at Yuuko before responding, "You can't."

"What are you going to do?"

"I've got the TARDIS. Same old life. The last of the Time Lords."

"On your own?"

He nodded.

"I... I... I love you."

"Quite right, too. And I suppose... if this is my last chance to say it... Rose Tyler..."

The sound of wind came again and the image was gone. Rose collapsed onto her knees and began full out sobbing. Watanuki glanced at his boss, but her face was emotionless. Wrenching himself from Maru and Moro's grasp he went over to the distressed woman. Their eyes met briefly and next thing he knew she was in his arms crying into his shoulder.

"Watanuki," Yuuko's cool voice breeched his senses. "Go inside and make us some tea."

Maru and Moro came over and took the woman from his arms. She didn't resist at all as they helped her into the shop and sat her down at the place where Yuuko usually conducted business. His boss was now outside exchanging words with the waiting group. He wanted to stay and observe but instead went to make tea as he was told.

Watanuki arrange the tea on a tray with some kushidango from the day before and then took them into the room where the woman was. Yuuko sat across from her in a more rigid position than she normally did. He served them both before moving to sit a distance behind his boss. Together they waited as Rose gently sipped her tea and tried to calm down.

"You… before… You know The Doctor." She looked directly into Yuuko's eyes with a firmness that reminded Watanuki of Doumeki's gaze.

"That's right."

"How?"

"You should know better than anyone, Rose Tyler, the variety of people he meets on his travels."

She seemed to accept the answer. Silence again washed over them and she hesitantly pick up some of the kushidango.

"Ah that's quite good. Watanuki is very talented."

Rose's eyes darted to him and she gave him a small smile. Watanuki smiled back, heat rising in his cheeks. It was the first time he had comforted a grown woman like that and he felt a bit awkward. She bit into the sweet dumpling and gave an experimental chew before finishing the whole thing.

"Earlier. You said you grant wishes. Well, I have a wish. I want to be with The Doctor."

"To have a wish granted you must give up something equivalent to its value. You can not afford that wish."

A look of frustration covered her face for a moment before she began to frantically search her pockets. After a few moments she pulled out something and gave a small sound of celebration. The object looked like something one would put their I.D. in.

"What about this. Psychic paper, shows people anything you want them to see."

Even though Watanuki couldn't see his boss' face he could tell from her body language that she was interested. She had shifted forward, leaning a bit more towards the foreigner.

"Oh that is exquisite. However it is not enough for what you are asking. The Doctor wasn't lying. Whole universes could collapse. That's a heavy wait to bear."

"I don't care."

The two women stared into each others eyes.

"Fine. You can't get me to The Doctor. My planet then, back in the other universe. Can you do that?"

"This paper would not cover that."

"There has to be something I can do!" The blonde hit her own leg out of anger.

"How much are you willing to give up for him?"

"Everything." Watanuki hadn't heard such fierce determination before.

"Your relationship, even?"

"What?"

"I could send you back to your world. You could land in any time, I have no control over that and there is no guarantee that you will find him."

"But you said the price was too…"

"The price will be memories. If you should find the good Doctor again, he will have no recollection of who you are. Can you still live with that?"

Watanuki watched the conflict on Rose's face. He tried to imagine how that would be, just as he had done when Sakura's memories had been the price for Syaoran. He couldn't imagine how painful it would be to go to school the next day and have Himiwari or Doumeki not know who he was.

At the same time though, he knew it would be just as painful to never see them again. As the thought of never seeing Himiwari's smile again, or never having Doumeki ask for outlandish foods passed through his mind he knew that he would make the same choice Syaoran had.

"Yeah…yeah. It doesn't matter."

"I see, then come with me. Mokona, you as well."

The small creature jumped from Watanuki's shoulder onto Yuuko's. It waved excitedly at Rose as the group went back outside where the meeting with the Doctor had taken place. Watanuki stepped after them but stayed in the doorway instead of going completely out.

Mokona jumped into the air and feathery black wings burst from its body. Symbols appeared on the ground and started glowing. Yuuko ushered Rose to stand on them the moment her feet touched the symbols a portal started to appear under Mokona.

It was obvious without Yuuko saying that Rose was supposed to walk through it. Squaring, her shoulders she turned to march into the darkness.

"Wait!" Watanuki called out. She jerked her head around to look at him.

"Good luck." He smiled at her and she returned it full force. Without another moment to spare she ran into the portal. It closed as soon as she was through it and Mokona's wings retracted. It gently floated into Yuuko's arms.

"Oh Watanuki," That sly tone was back in her voice. "Bring me that bottle of wine Doumeki brought from his grandfather's collection."

"Can't you go one day without alcohol?!"

"But Watanuki," Mokona called from Yuuko's arms, "We worked hard, we deserve it."

"Worked hard, hard!" The chant came from the soulless girls behind him.

"Grr, Fine! But no beer after dinner tonight!"

"Unfair!!!" His boss called after him as he made his way to the cellar.

---The End-

Bound: Something I ended up wanting to write in the middle of completely the fourth chapter of Fading Light. I can easily picture the Doctor and Yuuko knowing each other.


End file.
